IRISH PREMIERE OF 'PASSION' JULY 27AT TRISKEL CHRISTCHURCH IN CORK CITY

Brian De Palma's Passion will get its Irish premiere on Saturday, July 27, at Triskel Christchurch, a former church located in Cork City that has been converted into a music/cinema venue. Christopher O'Neill, Head Of Cinema at Triskel Christchurch, had heard that Passion was not going to get a theatrical release in the UK/Ireland, and requested the special screening, which is presented in association with Metrodome Distribution. O'Neill will be on hand to give an illustrated talk entitled ‘The De Palma Thriller’ following the screening. This past May, O'Neill hosted a small De Palma retrospective at the Dundead Film Festival in Dundee, Scotland.

Entertainment One released a pretty good U.S. trailer for Brian De Palma's Passion yesterday via Entertainment Tonight, presented as part of the latter's "Summer Movie Guide." The trailer can also be watched at Zimbio, Hulu, IMDB, and TV Guide.

For a change, this trailer does not mention that the film is "from the director of Scarface and The Untouchables," but simply "from acclaimed director Brian De Palma." Well, of course-- he's the director of Passion, which I've seen twice now on DVD (imported from France), and which I can say is excellent. I'll be writing up a full spoilerific essay about it sometime in July, but in brief, Passion is a whip-smart De Palma thriller with a magnificent split-screen sequence at its center, and a killer performance by Rachel McAdams. It's the most fun, relentless wind-up toy of a movie De Palma has put on screen since Raising Cain (Femme Fatale, which I like better than either of these, is fun, too, but not quite as wound-up; it sort of takes its own charming time). Looking forward to seeing this on the big screen.

DE PALMA & JOHN WATERS MEET UP AT FESTAND MINI-REVIEW OF 'PASSION' FROM PROVINCETOWN

The picture above shows Brian De Palma chatting with John Waters yesterday at the Provincetown International Film Festival, where Waters was to conduct a late-afternoon conversation with Harmony Korine, in the same theater where De Palma presented his new film Passion later that same evening. The picture above was taken by George Weinstein, and appears at Demotix.

Meanwhile, Cape Cod Times' Tim Miller caught Wednesday night's screening of Passion at the festival. "The film is convoluted," states Miller, "where you often don't know whether you're watching a dream or reality, which is fine, but here it seems more than a little forced. No one ever accused De Palma of being subtle. But that can be a good thing, too: You can't stop watching Passion, wondering what bizarre thing will happen next."